Gravity-feed bottle cooling and dispensing cabinet



2 Sheets-Sheet IN1/EN TOR. Qoberf Les' ATroRNgY.

R. E. -LEE GRAVITY FEED BOTTLE COOLING AND D ISPENSING CABINET Filed Nov. 9, 1926 June i18, 1929.

R. E. LEE

June 18, 1929.

GRAVITY FEED BOTTLE COOLING AND DISPENSING CABINET z sheets-smet Filed Nov. 9, 1926 IN VEN TOR.

ATmRNEY.

Patented June 18, 1929."

UNITED STATES ROBERT E. LEE, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

GRAVITY-FEED BOTTLE cooLINe AND DIsrnNsING CABINET.

Application tiled November 9, 1926. Serial No. 147,282.

My invention relates to improvements over the construction set forth in my copending application, Serial No. 98,467, filed March 30, 1926.

The objects of this invention are to provide simple, eflicient, convenlent and easlly operated means for removing the bottles one at a time from within the cabinet.,

Another object of this invention 1s to provide means of this character which insures easy withdrawal of the bottles and tends to prevent more than one bottle to be withdrawn at a time. l

The invention consists in providlng an upwardly and outwardly inclined wall positioned adjacent the lower ends of the bottle' guideways; in providing a plurallty of slots which receive cars on thelower ends of said guideways adapted to be bent against the outer surface of said wall whereby the walls of said guideways are securely fixed thereto in spaced apart relation with one another; in providing a downwardly projecting wall or partition between the eX- tended front of the cabinet and the rear portion thereof of suiiicient length to extend below the ice-water line within the cabinet, thus helping to retain the cool air within the cabinet and keep the hot air out 0f the main part of the cabinet when using the lower serving door for the removal of the bottles for use.

\ The invention also consists in the peculiar construction, combination, location and arrangement of parts, as herein set forth and claimed.y

- In the drawings:

Fig. 1 `s a side elevation of a cabinet embodying my invention, parts shown in' section and by dotted lines; y

Fig. 2 illustrates the lower portion of one of the bottle guideways, the outwardly adjacent inclined wall being shown by dotted lines;

Fig. 3 is anl enlarged view of the shown in the circle in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 shows a front elevation of the inclined wall which is partly broken away, two of the bottle guideways, and the manner of attaching the guideways to the inclined wall;

parts Fig. 5 is anisometric view of one of the elevated bottle tracks (which are inserted lbetween the walls of the bottle guideways at their lower ends) Fig. 6 is a vertical cross-section taken on ice compartment 2 and a plane corresponding to line 6-6 of Fig.l 3; ig. 7 is a vertical cross-section taken on a plane corresponding to line 7--7 of Fig. 3; Fig. 8 is a horizontal cross-section taken gli a plane corresponding to line`8,8 of

Fig.- 9 is a plan view of the reinforcing strips used on the lower'ends of the bottle guideways before bending; and

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary side elevational view showing the lower end of' one of the partitions, six bottles, one yof the inclined strips, andthe inclined wall, the last two named parts appearing in vertical section.

In the 4embodiment of my invention as illustrated and which shows a preferred construction I provide automatic feeder which comprises cabinet 1, bottle guideways 3. In my earlier constructions the lower ends 4 of guideways 3 were attached directly to the front wall 5 of cabinet 1. With such construction considerable ,ditliculty was experienced in removing the end bottle 7 due to the weight thereagainst of the' other bottles. Such construction also resulted in withdrawing bottle 8 4along with bottle 7 and, of course, this was objectionable.

In my present construction, inclinedwall 6 is provided near its'top with rivet holes 9 and also a plurality of vertical slots or openings 10, as clearly shown in Fig. 4. The ends 4 of guideways 3 are provided with ears 11 which are adapted to pass through slots 10 ininclined wall 6 and then bent or clinched over, as lshown in Figs. 1, 8 and 10, respectively. After all of the bottle guideways 3 are attached to inclined wall 6 in this manner, the upper end 12 of said Wallis then securely fastened toA front wall 5 as by rivets 13 passing through holes 9 in said inclined wall and holes 14 in said front wall 5, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 1. The lower side of inclined wall 6 is bent upon itself until the portion 15 is parallel with bottom 16 of cabinet 1.

The outer edge of said portion 15 is bent upward formlng rib 17, which rib bears against the inside wall 5 ofcabinet `1 and a bottle cooler and l thereby securely holds or supportsthe guidei ways 3. I Elevated bottle tracks18 are substantially the shape shown in Figs. 1, 6 and 10, respectively, the rear portion 19 being providedwith holes 20 for the purpose'of receiving bolts or rivets 2l whereby said tracks are securely fastened to bottom 16 of cabinet 1, between each of the bottle guideways 3. The front inclined portions 22 of el'evated'bottle tracks 18 rest against section 23 of inclined wall 6, as clearly shown U-shaped, as shown in the sectional view in Fig. 6. The front edge of each wall of the respective gu'ideways is provided with a channeled member 25 having oppositely disposed lateral flanges 25', as clearly shown in Fig. 7. Said channeled strips 24, together with channeled member 25, are secured to bottle guideways 3 by rivets 26, the strip 24 overlapping the member 25 at their joints.

To prevent warm air from entering and cold air from escaping from the inside of cabinet 1 and ice compartment 2 when horizontal serving door 27 is opened, I provide downwardly extending partition 28 fixed to cabinet l by rivets or bolts 29, said partition extending across the entire front of said cabinet and downward below the waterline 30 of ice water 31.

The operation of the device is as follows:

Assume that the bottle guideways 3 have been filled, or partially filled, with bottles containing the drinks to be served. Attenfion is called to the fact that the bottles are inserted within the guideways 3 at the top in a horizontal position. Then note the position of the lower bottle 7 (Fig. 1) and it will be seen that it is resting against inclined wall'6. Should it then be desired to serve bottle 7, simply raise serving door 27 and grasp the neck 7 of bottle 7, as by hand 7 (Fig. 10) and start to pull upwardly. This causes bottle 7 to assume a vertical position, as well as bottle 8, and a few more in the row, in the curved section of the guideway. As the bottle 7 is further pulled upward by hand 7" the weightof the remaining bottles cause said bottle 7 to be pushed forward and at the same time inclined wall 6 forces it upward, as shown in Fig. 10.

As inclined wall 6 is disposed at an angle to the side 7 a of bottle 7, the friction between saidbottle and said wall is reduced to a minimum, thereby greatly increasing the ease with which end bottle 7 may be removed from the cabinet.

It will be understood that certain changes and modifications in my invention can be made without departing from its scope or spirit as defined in the claims, as for instance, the shape of the inclined wall 6 may vary and instead of being a series of flat portions at different angles to one another, it may comprise a curved wall.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a bottle cooler and automatic feeder a vertically disposed bottle guideway curved at its lower end and each wall having an oblique end with a plurality of ears thereon, flanges' on the front edge of said walls to retain said bottles in said guideways to. near cooler, said inclined wall having slots therein adapted to receive said ears, which ears will bear against the outer surface of said inclined wall to hold said guideway and inclined wall in fixed relation with each other. 2. In a bottle cooler and automatic feeder, a vertically disposed bottle guideway having walls andcurved at its lower end and having a bottle exit adjacent said lower end, the walls of said guideway being spaced apart in front and rear and having inwardly extending flanges along the edges thereof to retain saidI bottles lin said guideway and forming a slot between the front flanges through which the necks of the bottles extend and each guideway having a bottle exit adjacent its lower end, an upwardly inclined wall at the lower end of said guideways, and an elevated track secured to the bottom of said cooler between the walls of the respective guideways whereby the two en d bottles will be raised upwardly to permit ready withdrawal of the end bottle upwardly along said inclined wall.

3. In a bottle cooler and automatic feeder, a vertically disposed bottle guideway hav-. ing walls, the front walls'of which have spaced apart laterally extending flanges to retain the bottles in lsaid guideway and to permit the necks of the bottles to extend between said flanges, an outwardly inclined wall extending across the lower end of said guideways, and an elevated trackbetween the walls of said guideway curved between its ends, substantially as set forth and for the purposes specified. 4. In a bottle cooler and automatic feeder, vertically disposed spaced apart flanged guideways at front and'rear and having a bottle exit near the lower end of said guideways and a U-shaped reinforcing member mounted upon the upper front edge of the respective walls adjacent said bottle exit and having a tapered end extending beneath the flanged portion of each guideway, substantially as set forth and for the purposes specified. I

5. In a bottle cooler and automatic feeder, a vertically disposed bottle guidewa entirely enclosed within said cooler and aving a longitudinal slot to permit the necks ofthe bottlesr to extend therethrough throughout its entire length and said guideway extendf trincea 'wall inclined upwaitdly and outwardly at the lower end of said guideway ksubstantially the length of the bottles and adapted to perniit the side of the end bottle to normally reet thereagainst, and when said bottle is drawn to upright position while removing permitting only one lower edge of the bottle to rest against said inclined wall, thereby permitting the bottle to be withdrawn vertically through said exit, the weight of the other bottles assisting in forcing Said end bottle vertically along said inclined Wall and permitting it to be withdrawn with the greatest possible freedom.

6. In a bottle cooler and automatic feeder, vertically .disposed bottle guideways arranged side by side and each guidcway having a longitudinal front slot extending throughout its lengt-h adapted to-permit the bottles to be inserted horizontally through the front, one at a time upon each other and to extend through said slot while being ted therethrough rby gravity and having a covered exit near itslower end to permit the bottles to be withdrawn vertically therethrough, said covered exit heilig located above the end bottle and an outwardly inclined wall adjacent the .lower ends of said guideways to engage the lower edge only of the bott-le while being-removed.

7. In a bottle cooler and automatic feeder, a vertically disposed bottle guideway having walls extending downwardly and theny forwardly in its lower part and having a bottleexit adjacent the lower end of said guideway, said guideway having a vertically disposed longitudinal slot in its front to-per mit the necks of the bottles to extend therethrough and retain said bottles within said guideway throughout its length, an upwardly inclined track adjacent the lower end of said guideway, and an upwardly inclined wall at the end of said track and at an angle thereto whereby the two end bottles will be raised upwardly parallel to each other in stacked relation to permit ready removal of the end bottle upwardly along said inclined wall and a cover for said exit in said cooler near said end bottle.

8. A gravity feed bottle cooling cabinet provided with a. cooling agent and having a bottle chute extending from vertical to horizontal position whereby the bottles are fed therethrough by gravit-y from parallel horizontal position to parallel'vert-ical position, a covered exit in said cooler adjacent the lower end ot said guideway and an inclined wall at the lower end of said guideway whereby the end bottle is readily grasped and drawn by hand to substantially vertical position along said inclined wall and whereby the weight of the other bottles tends to force said end bottle upwardly therethrough when raised to vertical position and thereby assist in the easy withdrawal of the bottle from the cabinet through said exit.

ROBERT E. LEE. 

